Fipple flute

ABSTRACT

A fipple flute includes an oyster shaped hollow body providing a resonant chamber, a whistle type mouthpiece in the rim of the body chamber communicating with the resonant chamber and with the exterior through a slit in the body, and four pitch control openings in the resonant chamber of differing sizes, disposed at each side of a diametral plane through the body intersecting the mouthpiece and perpendicular to the rim plane, the holes spaced so as to be simultaneously engageable by fore finger and middle finger of each hand of the musician, the pitch hole sizes and locations relative to the resonant chamber enabling a full octave western chromatic scale of thirteen notes to be sounded without overblowing, an eyelet at the rim opposite the mouthpiece being provided with a necklace for carrying the flute. The four pitch control holes are disposed as at the corners of a trapezoid adapting same to a mnemonic musical notation consisting of a quartered square with shaded quarters corresponding to holes to be stopped. The body is made in two halves initially separated along the rim and glued together; polyester resin being the body material and the glue of the same material. After joining the halves, the glue flash is trimmed and the instrument tuned by pitch hole reaming or filling. Decorative exterior finishes are applied.

nited States Patent 1191 Johnson 1451 June 11, 1974 FIPPLE FLUTE [76]Inventor: Paul Conrad Johnson, PO. Box 41,

Austin, Tex. 78767 22 Filed: Sept. 4, 1973 211 App]. No.: 394,363

Primary Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-MurrayRobinson [57] ABSTRACT A fipple flute includes an oyster shaped hollowbody providing a resonant chamber, a whistle type mouthpiece in the rimof the body chamber communicating with the resonant chamber and with theexterior through a slit in the body, and four pitch control openings inthe resonant chamber of differing sizes, disposed at each side of adiametral plane through the body intersecting the mouthpiece andperpendicular to the rim plane, the holes spaced so as to besimultaneously engageable by fore finger and middle finger of each handof the musician, the pitch hole sizes and locations relative to theresonant chamber enabling a full octave western chromatic scale ofthirteen notes to be sounded without overblowing, an eyelet at the rimopposite the mouthpiece being provided with a necklace for carrying theflute.

The four pitch control holes are disposed as at the corners of atrapezoid adapting same to a mnemonic musical notation consisting of aquartered square with shaded quarters corresponding to holes to bestopped.

The body is made in two halves initially separated along the rim andglued together; polyester resin being the body material and the glue ofthe same material. After joining the halves, the glue flash is trimmedand the instrument tuned by pitch hole reaming or filling. Decorativeexterior finishes are applied.

6 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures FATENTEDJUH 1 1 mm 18151466 SHEET 2 OF 3 X7.4; ix:

PATENTEDJUN] 1 I974 (WHOM/177C JCAZE 1 Z 3 4 5 l/ /2 I3 UP THEN LIT- TLETEA POT SHORT AND -S'TOUT. HERE l5 HERE IS MY JPOUT. WHEN I GET ALLJTEAMED K? SHOUT. T/P ME OVER AND POUR 'ME OUT.

FIPPLE FLUTE BACKGROUND OF THE lNVENTlON 1. Field of the Invention Thisinvention pertains to musical instruments and their manufacture and moreparticularly to a fipple flute.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the Encyclopedia Brittanica,copyright 1953, Volume l9, page 18, there is the entry under FLUTE fromwhich it appears that flutes are resonant tubes with the air columnlength varied by openings along the length, the air being set invibration by blowing against a sharp edge adjacent the tubes, such edgebeing either the open end of the tube or a whistle mouthpiece connectedto the tube (fipple flute) or a hole in the side of the tube shaped as amouthpiece (transverse flute). It is said that the tone quality dependssomewhat on the material, silver, gold, cocus-wood, and ebonite beingmentioned. It is further indicated that the proportions, position andform of the stopper, and of the air chambersituated between it and theembouchere are mainly influential in giving the flute its peculiarslightly hollow timbre, due to the paucity of the upper partials ofwhich, according to Helmholtz, only the octave and twelfth are heard."

The same work states that the compass of a modern transverse fluteisthree octaves with chromatic semitones'from middle C upwards, thepitch being proportional to the length of the stationary air column;which is practically somewhat longer than the length of the tube, thelength of the column being varied by opening the lateral finger holesbetween the embouchere at the one end and the stopperat the other end.The early flute is said to have had six finger holes.

The foregoing encyclopedia also has the entry:

RECORDER, Fipple Flute or English Flute, a medieval flute, blown bymeans of a whistle mouthpiece and held vertically in front of theperformer like a clarinet. It consisted of a wooden tube, which was atfirst cylindrical or nearly so, but became, as the instrument developedand improved, an inverted cone.

Being very easy to play, the recorder enjoyed great popularity in allcountries of the middle of the 18th century until'the greaterpossibilities of the transverse flute turned the tide against it. After1800 a small variety, called the flageolet, played a certain role as anamateur instrument in England (where even double and triple flageoletswere built). In the th century an increased interest in ancient musicbrought forth a renaissance of the recorder in various sizes.

A further entry in the above mentioned encyclopedia is as follows: I

FLAGEOLET, in music, a kind of flute-a-bec with a new fingering inventedin France at the end of the 16th century and in vogue in England fromthe end of the 17th to the beginning of the 19th century.

The flageolet differed from the recorder in that it had four fingerholes in front and two thumb holes at the back. This fingering hassurvived in the French flageolet still used in the provinces of Francein small orchestras and for dance music.

The encyclopedia also contains an entry as follows:

OCARlNA, a wind instrument invented in Italy, which is classed withmusical toys or freaks. lt con sists of a vessel in the shape of an eggwith a pointed base and perforated with holes and a tube like a spout inthe side containing the mouthpiece. In America, it is sometimes called asweet potato.

One form of ocarina illustrated in Websters Seventh New Collegiatedictionary on page 583 appears to have eight finger holes.

According to the World Book Encyclopedia, copyright 1961, Volume 6, page271, a flute usually has 13 tone holes and several other holes forfinger movements although earlier flutes of the 17th and 18th centurieshad fewer finger holes. The same word on page 108 states that aFlageolet is a small woodwind type instrument including a whistlemouthpiece and a tube with four finger holes on top and two underneathor with all six holes on top. In volume 19 at page 237 it is indicatedthat a whistle consists of a tube with a sharp edge called a lip. It issaid that .The air or steam is blown into one end of the tube and swirlsinto a vortex, or whirlpool-like motion, where it strikes the lip. Thisaction alternately compresses and expands the air or steam so that itmakes a sound. The shorter the tube, the higher the pitch of the soundproduced. In volume 13 of the same work, at page 487, the Ocarina isdescribed as a toy wind instrument of the whistle type including amouthpiece through which air is blown and seven to 10 holes that'sound asimple scale.

It appears that the Ocarina, though employing a whistle mouthpiece likea fipple flute, is similar to the transverse flute in that the length ofthe resonating chamber and the direction of the line of tone controlholes is transverse to the axis of the mouthpiece.

An entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica, llth Edition, copyright 191 1,Volume 28, pages 595-596, states that the whistle takes many forms, fromthe straight flute and flageolet type made of wood or metal and piercedwith holes, to the metal signalling pipe used for signalling on boardship and by policemen. A further example of a type of whistle referredto in this work at page 634 of Volume 2 l is the Pipe and Tabour, thetabour being a small drum and the pipe a three hole flageolet, two holesin front and one in back. Volume 22 of the same work, page 966, notesthat the Recorder, a medieval flute blown by means of a whistlemouthpiece survives today primarily only in the obsolete flageolet andin the penny whistle. ln Volume 18, under Mouthpiece, pages 946, 947,the same encyclopedia classifies types of mouthpieces as pan-pipe,whistle, reed, and cup. It appears that the pan-pipe type includes theancient oblique flute and the modern transverse flute in which the airstream from the musicians lips blows across an edge, partially into theinstruments resonating chamber or tube and partially away from it. Thewhistle is similar to the pan-pipe except that the user blows into aconverging tube which produces a jet or stream of air precisely directedon an edge or lip cut into the side of the resonant pipe. It is statedon page 946 that The principle of the whistle mouthpiece has beenapplied with slight modifications to a variety of instruments such asthe recorder family in England (Fr. flute-a-bec, flute douce, fluteanglaisse; Ger. Schnobelflote; Plockflote, ltal. floto dulce), in whichthe channel assumes the form of a beak, the flageolet, the pennywhistle, etc. All these whistles or fipple pipes have at all timesenjoyed great popularity owing to the ease with which they can beplayed. [See Rev. F. W. Golpin, The Whistles and Reed Instruments of theAmerican Indians of the North-West Coast. Proc. of Musical Assoc.(1903-1904), page 115, with illustrations.]"

Macgowan and Hester, Jr., in Early Man in the New World, copyright 1962,by the American Museum of Natural History, refer in an illustration onpage 236 to both New World and Old World Panpipes, being a group of 16apertured pipes of various lengths lashed together so that one oranother can be selectivelyblown in succession, and on page 255 isreference to the new world whistling jar.

The fipple flute or whistle and other instruments excited by blowing atan edge, such as the pan pipes and transverse flute, are distinguishedfrom bugles, trumpets, and other instruments excited by vibration of theperformers lips placed against a cup type mouthpiece and also aredistinguished from reed instruments in which a closed or free singlereed or adouble reed is caused to vibrate by blowing air and the reed inturn excites the resonant pipe or chamber portion of the instrument.These blowing type or wind instruments are to be distinguished fromsimple resonators. A kazoo is thought to be of the latter type.

Websters dictionary, above referred to, defines a kazoo as a toy musicalinstrument consisting of a tube with a membrane sealing one end and aside hole into which one sings or hums. It may be that the membrane hasso many resonant frequencies that it can vibrate in step with whateverpitch the user hums into the end.

Oyster shaped wind instruments with what appear to be rim mouthpiecesare shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 130,350 Gillie; Des. 134,066 Hommer;Des. 134,710 Gillie. but the mouthpieces appear to be not of the whistletype. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 142,799 Thompson, discloses anoyster shaped kazoo with, apparently, six holes in thebody and a rimmouthpiece, but again there is no whistle.

Other humming'excited musical instruments of oyster shape are shown inU.S. Pat. Nos. 2,331,975 Hagopion; 2,513,600 Thompson. In both of thesedisclosures the oyster shaped body is divided into two halves along aplane through the rim, the two halves being cemented together. Hagopionnotes that: three (or one) apertures in his pipe shaped mouthpiece maybe covered and uncovered with the fingers in much the same manner aswhen playing a piccolo or flute. He provides an eyelet at the body rimadjacent the mouthpiece to which a necklace is attached. Thompson notesthat the body of his instrument may be made of plastic. He provides atortuous flow passage from his rim mouthpiece to two egress holes in thebody; the stopping of these holes with the fingers varies the airpressure in the body and hence the taughtness of the kazoo element ordiaphragm. Five or six vent holes are also provided adjacent thediaphragm.

Ocarinas made in two parts divided in a longitudinal medial planethrough the tubular mouthpiece are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,788,613Bernard; 2,195,992 Mausolf. The Bernard ocarina is made of sheet metal.Mausolfs ocarina is made of molded plastic. Both of these ocarinasemploy tubular mouthpieces extending laterally from the resonancechamber. In the Bernard construction the entire mouthpiece is a thinflat configuration. In the Mausolf instruction the mouthpiece is ofcircular cross section and a thin flat internal air passage is providedby a rib in the upper half of the mouthpiece fitting into but notfilling a groove in the lower part, the passage thus formed leading toan outlet opening in the lower part.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,617,324 Brody, discloses a whistle having four pitchcontrol holes along the length of the resonant tube connected coaxiallyto the mouthpiece. It is not indicated what tones may be achieved withthis whistle.

A modified ocarina is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,485,749 Ladd, in which asingle pitch control slot, with or without an auxiliary pitch controlport, is used to play a continuous scale. It is also disclosed that twoor three such devices can be combined in a single instrument, each ofthe two or three whistle mouthpieces communicating with a' separateslotted resonance chamber. The musician may use both hands to controlthe separate slots. In the case of the two whistle modifications therewould be four vent openings (two slots and two ports), and the musiciancould control the left hand slot and port with his left hand and theright hand slot and port with his right hand, blowing into both whistlemouthpieces simultaneously or successively it would appear.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,390,933 Simpson, discloses a musical tabulature forfifes showing graphically which holes are to be stopped to producesounds of the desired pitch. The fife under consideration has six pitchcontrol holes, andthe tabulature shows six aligned circles, the shadedcircles corresponding to the holes to be stopped to produce a particularnote. I

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A fipple flute includes an oyster shaped hollowbody providing a resonant chamber, a whistle type mouthpiece in the rimof the body chamber communicating with the resonant chamber and with theexterior through a slit in the body, and four pitch control openings inthe resonant chamber of differing sizes disposed two at each side of adiametral plan through the body intersecting the mouthpiece andperpendicular to the rim plane, the holes spaced so as to besimultaneously engageable by fore finger and middle finger of each handof the musician, the pitch hole sizes and locations relative to theresonant chamber enabling a full octave western chromatic scale ofthirteen notes to be sounded without overblowing, an eyelet at the rimopposite the mouthpiece being provided with a necklace for carrying theflute.

The four pitch control holes are disposed as at the corners of atrapezoid adapting same to a mnemonic musical notation consisting of aquartered square with shaded quarters corresponding to holes to bestopped.

The body is made in two halves initially separated along the rim andglued together; polyester resin being the body material and the glue ofthe same material. After joining the halves, the glue flash is trimmedand the instrument tuned by pitch hole reaming or filling. Decorativeexterior finishes are applied.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a detailed description of apreferred embodiment of the invention reference will now be made to theaccompanying drawings wherein.

FIG. 1 is a top view of a flute embodying the invention,

FIG. 2 is a bottom view thereof,

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the upper half of the flute,

FIG. 4 is a top view of the lower half of the flute, FIG. 5 is a sideofthe flute with necklace attached,

FIG. 6 is a section along plane 6-6 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 7 is a section taken at plane 7-7 of FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 is a pictorial view showing the manner of use of the flute,

FIGS. 9 and 10 show respectively a top view of the flute with the pitchcontrol holes numbered and a diagram of a quartered square musicalnotation with the corresponding quarters like numbered,

FIGS. 11 and 12 write the lines and chromatic scales respectively usingthe quartered square notation, and

FIG. 13 is an example of a musical composition to be played on thesubject flute written out according to the quartered square notation.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 5, there is showna flute 11 embodying the'invention. The flute includes a hollow oystershaped body 12 including an eyelet 13 at its rim to which is attached anecklace 15 by means of which the flute may be carried suspended fromthe musicians neck when not in use. At the rim of the body diametricallyopposite to the eyelet 13 is the whistle mouthpiece 17.

The body ll2 is formed of two halves 19,21 joined together, the partingline being at the rim 23. The rim is thicker than the rest of the bodyto provide intumed flanges or flat lips 24,26 to facilitate gluing thetwo halves together. Preferably the body is made of polyester resin andcemented together with polyester glue, the glue integrally welding thetwo halves together.

As best shown in FIG. 1, the upper half 19 is provided with fourcircular pitch control holes 25,27, 29, 31 of progressively increasingdiameter and area. There is also a rectangular whistle vent slot 33. Asshown in FIG. 3, a groove 35 leads to the slot 33. The edges of thegroove are rabbetted at 37,39. Referring to FIG. 4, a wedge shaped ribmolded integral with the bottom half 21 of the flute body is adapted tobe received between the rabbets 37, 39, leaving a passage 42, (FIGS. 6 &7) between the top of groove 35 and the bottom 45 of rib 41. The outerend 47 of the passage 43 provides the'air inlet opening of the whistlemouthpiece 17. The inner end of the passage emits air blown into thepassage, the air being directed to pass over slot 33 whereby the airstream will strike the sharp edge 49 to excite vibrations of the airinside the hollow body 72.

Referring now to FIG. 8, there is shown the method of holding the flute11 when it is being played, the two hands of the musician grasping theflute at opposite sides and holding it to the mouth, the rectangularslot 32 being left uncovered by the lips. One blows gently into opening47. The index and middle fingers on each hand are used to cover fully orpartially one or more of the four pitch control holes 25, 27, 29, 31 inthe top of the flute.

FIG. 9 is a top view of the flute showing the four holes, same beinghere numbered 1, 2, 3, 4'. FIG. 10 is the outline of a quartered squarenmemoric musical notation in which the four quarters are numbered 1, 2,3, 4 indicating which quarters are to be correlated by the musician withthe correspondingly numbered pitch control holes shown in FIG. 9.According to the method of notation, the musician is to stop with hisfingers those holes corresponding to fully shaded quarters of thesquare, and partially stop those holes corresponding to half shadedquarters of the square, leaving unstopped the holes corresponding to theunshaded quarters of the square. Using this notation, FIG. 11 shows howto play an eight note tonic scale and FIG. 12 shows how to play athirteen note chromatic scale. For example, assuming the flute is tunedto the key of C, the note Dsharp is sounded by stopping fully all buthole 27, the latter being half stopped. This is shown at note 4 in FIG.12. FIG. 13 shows how a musical composition can be written using thequartered square notation, repetition of a note as written below theword handle" being indicated by repetition of the same quartered squarenotation. It is apparent that one advantage of the four hole fluteconstruction is its comformability to the quartered square method ofmusical notation.

A method of manufacture of the flute and other data relevant to theflute is best set forth by the following quotation from an instructionsheet for the flute:

Your flute is similar in design to pre-columbian whistles. It wasdesigned and made by hand. The most difficult part of the design was themaking of a wax flute that would (I) make-a sound (2) play a full scale& (3) come apart in two halves. It was a trial and error process. Twosilver halves were made from the wax halves, using the lost-waxcastingmethod. From the silver halves came silicone rubber molds, and finallyfrom those molds came two finished polyester resin halves. Then thehalves were put together, glued with the same material (polyesterresin). They are then wrapped, trimmed and tuned for the last time. Ittakes roughly 3 days to make a flute.-

There are several different kinds of finishes obtainable to decorate aflute.

warning! At no time touch the upper portion of the rectangular hole withsandpaper, a knife or any other instrument. It is precisely made anddelicately positioned in your flute & allows sound to be produced.

DO NOT ALTER THIS AREA! Now with this warning in mind the seam may beremoved by sanding it out and you may choose from the following surfacelustres:

l. Dull rough surface Sand nearly the entire surface with No. 220Carborundum Sandpaper. This finish looks more like stone than resin.

2. Dull smooth surface--- Follow the same procedure as above, except useNo. 400 Carorundum Fast Cut water proof sandpaper. The sanding will gomore quickly if you keep the surface wet.

3. Shiny Jewel-Like Lustre Remove the seam with No. 400 sandpaper, thenbuff down the flute on a buffing wheel using resin buffing blocks (fromhobby shops) or simply rub down the flute with toothpaste and your barefingers.

Your little flute is quite sturdy. If it is left in a pocket it will notmelt in a hot washer or dryer. It can be broken. For instance, shouldyou step on it, it will shatter. But you can repair it by gluing thepieces together with epoxy or any plastic glue. Since there are nomoving parts, it should again operate perfectly.

From year to year it will be necessary to service your flute to restoreits full range of capabilities. Here's why: The wind tunnel is betweenthe SLlT where one blows and the part of the rectangle described in thewarning above. This tunnel is made to shape the wind properly to makesound. If excessive moisture or any object blocks this tunnel, yourflute will not play.

I. Blow as hard as possible into the flute. (This will clear moistureand lint). This works 99 percent of the time. If not 2. Put some liquiddetergent in the flute and hold it under a shower head or faucet. Thiswill remove oil build-up and pocket lint.

If either (1 or (2) work DONT try (3). It is a drastic and dangerousmeasure.

3. If you can still. see an obstruction in the tunnel, in-

sert a tiny object (a straight pin is too large). If it starts to bind,STOP! If the object has a sharp edge or point, it may cause rather thanrid your flute or troubles. The blunt end of a scalpel blade is ideal,but difficult to find.

The drawings, FIGS. 1-7, are to scale, being 1% times full scale. Withthis size body and pitch control holes of this size indicated and in theplaces indicated, the flute is tuned to play in the key of C using awestern chromatic scale. I

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed; modifications thereof .can be made by one skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A flute comprising:

an oyster shaped body having an upper wall, a lower wall, and a rimdefining the joining of said walls, said body enclosing a single hollowinterior;

a vent slot offset from said rim in said upper wall;

a mouthpiece located on said rim;

-a passage in said body having an inlet opening in said mouthpiece andan outlet in said interior adjacent said vent slot, said passage shapedto direct air blown in through said inlet against an edge of said bentslot to excite vibrations of the air inside said hollow interior;

and only four pitch control holes of progressively increasing arealocated in said upper wall such that by partial and full stopping ofsaid holes the flute will produce a chromatic scale.

2. Flute according to claim 1 in which said flute body is made of twoportions joined together, one portion including said vent opening and agroove leading to said vent opening from the rim of the body, saidgroove having rabbeted edges, the other portion including a rib fittingbetween and bottoming against said rabbeted edges and forming saidpassage between said rib and said groove.

3. Flute according to claim 1 in which the four pitch control holes aredisposed at the corners of a trapezoidal configuration.

4. Flute according to claim 1 in which the body is formed of twoportions joined together with cement, the dividing line between the twoportions being at the rim of the oyster shaped body, each portion beingmade of molded plastic and the cement being of the same material as saidtwo portions of the body, and adapted to join said portions together thesame as if integrally molded, each portion being provided with a flangeat said rim providing an extended surface for receiving the cement, saidflanges being inturned so as to be in-- visible from the exterior of thebody whereby upon ce menting the body portions together the appearanceis that of an integrally molded one piece unit.

5. Flute accordingto claim 1 in which the four pitch control holes aredisposed two at one side and two at another side of a diametral planeperpendicular to the rim and passing through the mouthpieceof the flute.

6. Flute according to claim 5 in which the two pitch control openings ateach side of the aforesaid diametral plane have centers spaced apart theaverage distances between adjacent first and second fingers of the humanhand.

(5 69 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. Q3,815,466 7 Dated June 11 1974 Inventor(s) P UL CONRAD JOHNSON ppears inthe above-identified patent Itis certified that error a hereby correctedas shown below:

and that said Letters Patent are Tntroduction, [76): after "Box" delete"41" and insert -417--.

O Cojumn 8, line 6: delete "bent" and insert --vent--.

Signed and sealed this 1st day of October 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M. GIBSON JR. C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents 23 2? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTIONPatent No. 3,815,466 Dated June 11 1974 PAUL CONRAD JOHNSON Inventor(s)ppears in the above-identified patent It is certified that error ahereby corrected as shown below:

and that said Letters Patent are I ntroduction, [76): after "Box" deIete"41" and msert --4I7--.

CoIumn 8, Iine 6: deIete "bent" and insert --vent--.

Signed and sealed this 1st day of October 1974.

(SEAL) Attest: MCCOY M. GIBSON JR. 0. MARSHALL DANN Attesting OfficerCommissioner of Patents

1. A flute comprising: an oyster shaped body having an upper wall, alower wall, and a rim defining the joining of said walls, said bodyenclosing a single hollow interior; a vent slot offset from said rim insaid upper wall; a mouthpiece located on said rim; a passage in saidbody having an inlet opening in said mouthpiece and an outlet in saidinterior adjacent said vent slot, said passage shaped to direct airblown in through said inlet against an edge of said bent slot to excitevibrations of the air inside said hollow interior; and only four pitchcontrol holes of progressively increasing area located in said upperwall such that by partial and full stopping of said holes the flute willproduce a chromatic scale.
 2. Flute according to claim 1 in which saidflute body is made of two portions joined together, one portionincluding said vent opening and a groove leading to said vent openingfrom the rim of the body, said groove having rabbeted edges, the otherportion including a rib fitting between and bottoming against saidrabbeted edges and forming said passage between said rib and saidgroove.
 3. Flute according to claim 1 in which the four pitch controlholes are disposed at the corners of a trapezoidal configuration. 4.Flute according to claim 1 in which the body is formed of two portionsjoined together with cement, the dividing line between the two portionsbeing at the rim of the oyster shaped body, each portion being made ofmolded plastic and the cement being of the same material as said twoportions of the body, and adapted to join said portions together thesame as if integrally molded, each portion being provided with a flangeat said rim providing an extended surface for receiving the cement, saidflanges being inturned so as to be invisible from the exterior of thebody whereby upon cementing the body portions together the appearance isthat of an integrally molded one piece unit.
 5. Flute according to claim1 in which the four pitch control holes are disposed two at one side andtwo at another side of a diametral plane perpendicular to the rim andpassing through the mouthpiece of the flute.
 6. Flute according to claim5 in which the two pitch control openings at each side of the aforesaiddiametral plane have centers spaced apart the average distances betweenadjacent first and second fingers of the human hand.